[post_page_title]Midwives had to take an oath not to steal royal afterbirth for witchcraft[/post_page_title]
Until the mid-17th century, royal births were women-only affairs overseen by anything from midwives to ladies-in-waiting. Doctors, obviously male, were told to stay out. For the help they provided royals, these women were known as “God’s siblings,” a phrase later shortened to “God’s sibs” that itself birthed the word “gossip.”
As experts on both the practical and theoretical aspects of birth, though, midwives needed to be not only knowledgeable but also trustworthy. Before attending to a royal, they had to take an oath not to keep anything from the birth, like the umbilical cord or the placenta, which could be used, it was believed, in witchcraft.
